Public schools lobby for funds

Public schools in Sydney's south-west last week launched the Public 
Education Lobby, a campaign to pressure the NSW Labor Government to give 
greater priority to public schools.

Roger Williams, President of the Greenway District Council of Parents & 
Citizens, told The Guardian that the lobby had been organised 
because of the "lack of funds being spent on public schools in the south-
west region — a growing area of Sydney".

Mr Williams said parents and teachers were angry that private schools were 
being boosted at the expense of public schools and were even more angry 
that this was happening under a Labor Government in NSW.

"There's no equity at all, [the government] is just going one way — 
towards the private schools", he said.

The NSW Government's lack of commitment to public schools is more in line 
with the platform of the Coalition than of Labor. In the last Federal 
Budget, the Coalition increased funding to private schools via the 
Enrolment Benchmark Adjustment, and the last State Budget gave no extra 
money to public schools.

In a press statement, Mr Williams said, "Given the increase in funding for 
private schools announced in the last Federal budget, we believe it is 
vital that public schools are better supported by local politicians and 
state and federal governments. We are urging parents and teachers to become 
involved in promoting public education."

Rob Deacon, a teacher at Lawrence Hargrave School, said, "Our school 
provides a good education. Teachers work incredibly hard to deliver the 
best for our students.

"It worries us that governments are diverting money from public education 
to increase funding to wealthy private schools.

"In the interests of social justice, greater support must be provided to 
public schools like ours", said Mr Deacon.

The Public Education Lobby will be approaching local MPs and working in 
local electorates to build support for public education.

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